New Orleans History

WWL-TV Mardi Gras expert and New Orleans Magazine editor Errol Laborde calls the creation of the Krewe of Muses 20 years ago a seminal moment in Mardi Gras history.

Inevitably, the promise of a new year leads to reflections of the past. For The Historic New Orleans Collection, 2019 was full of milestones: the opening of its third (and largest) campus, the retirement of a longtime president, the start of a new president’s tenure, and that was within the first six months! 

The Historic New Orleans Collection was founded by Leila and Kemper Williams, whose elegantly renovated French Quarter home brimmed with high style of the mid-20th century.

It is easy to name great athletes in New Orleans history, but while Louis Armstrong is among the city’s favorite sons, you probably wouldn’t put him in the local sports hall of fame.

Next Wednesday, Nov. 20, the nominees will be announced for the 62nd  annual Grammy Awards.

Before his role as Dr.

Inspired by The Historic New Orleans Collection’s upcoming symposium on wine, we set out to make a classic vino-infused recipe from Lafcadio Hearn’s groundbreaking cookbook “La Cuisine Créole.”

City of New Orleans. (THNOC, gift of the City of New Orleans, 2019.0340) 

A couple of issues ago, we brought you  the story of an iron pipe removed from beneath Bourbon Street. That was a pretty cool find, but now we’ve got one to top it: a wooden pipe from New Orleans’ first waterworks.

If good things come in small packages, great things arrive in big, rusty, muddy pipes.

Calvin Dayes came to the United States in 1949 as a Jamaican-born stowaway with $38 in his pocket. But, a long career as one of New Orleans’ most-respected cobblers put him at the center of local life.

In 1928, Audubon Park in New Orleans opened a public pool so massive it was called the largest in the South and the second-largest in the country.

Does your teenager frequent libraries, binge-watch documentaries and constantly have their nose in a history book? If so, you have a problem: They could be a history nerd!

The Historic New Orleans Collection’s Portage Bike Roll returned this month as part of the exhibition “Art of the City: Postmodern to Post-Katrina,” presented by The Helis Foundation.

Second lines and brass bands are among our city’s musical staples, but did you know that a traditional jazz funeral consists of two parts?

If you grew up in Louisiana, chances are you knew someone named Sue Ellen, Sarah Jane or Mary Margaret. Double names are very common in the South, but have you ever wondered how they came to be?

After the end of the Civil War, formerly enslaved people began seeking out family members separated by the slave trade.

The Crescent City and pecans have long been linked. The sweet, creamy, French confection known as a praline first gained American fame in New Orleans, when almonds were substituted for native Louisiana pecans. Soon the praline became a Southern hallmark treat.

The St. Charles Avenue streetcar line has operated in New Orleans since 1835, making it the oldest continuously operating streetcar line in the world. Since 1923, the arch-roofed, steel-bodied and iconic green Perley Thomas streetcars have operated on the line’s tracks.

Chances are if you live in New Orleans, you’ve spent time in Lakeview, an area named for its proximity to Lake Pontchartrain. Officially, Lakeview’s boundaries are defined as Lakeshore Drive, Orleans Avenue, City Park Avenue and the Jefferson Parish line.

You can still visit America’s first monument to WWI soldiers here in New Orleans.

Every year on All Saints’ Day, New Orleanians head to cemeteries to beautify the graves of the departed. Early Americans took this a step further by holding on to actual pieces of loved ones: their hair.

Here’s a challenge for you: Can you guess the current names of these streets?

Starting today, The Historic New Orleans Collection will resurrect the Halloween-themed tour of its Louisiana History Galleries. “Danse Macabre: The Nightmare of History” draws from grisly topics like colonial-era executions, cemetery relocation, serial killers and more to unveil some of the more frightful, but true, aspects of local lore.

Inspired by this weekend’s celebration of all things fried and made from chicken, we’re looking back at a bizarre feat of chicken consumption and a beloved restaurant.